Marguerite Durand was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette

Suffragette

"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...

.

Biography

Born into a middle-class family, Marguerite Durand was sent to study at a Roman Catholic convent. After finishing her primary education, she entered the Conservatoire de Paris

Conservatoire de Paris

The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...

 before joining the Comédie Française.

In 1888, she gave up her career in the theatre to marry an up-and-coming young lawyer, Georges Laguerre. A friend and follower of the politically ambitious army general Georges Boulanger

Georges Boulanger

Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger was a French general and reactionary politician. At the apogee of his popularity in January 1889 many republicans including Georges Clemenceau feared the threat of a coup d'état by Boulanger and the establishment of a dictatorship.- Early life and career :Born...

, her husband introduced her to the world of radical politics and involved her in writing pamphlets for the "Boulangists" movement. However, the marriage was short-lived and in 1891 the couple separated after which Durand took a job writing for Le Figaro

Le Figaro

Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...

, the leading newspaper of the day. In 1896, the paper sent her to cover the Congrès Féministe International (International Feminist Congress) ostensibly to write a humorous article. She came away from the event a greatly changed person, so much so that the following year on December 9, 1897 she founded a feminist daily newspaper, La Fronde

La Fronde

La Fronde was a French feminist newspaper first published in Paris on December 9, 1897 by activist Marguerite Durand . Durand, a well known actress and journalist, used her high-profile image to attract many notable Parisian women to contribute articles to her daily newspaper, which was run and...

to pick up where Hubertine Auclert

Hubertine Auclert

Hubertine Auclert was a leading French feminist and a campaigner for women's suffrage.Born in the Allier département in the Auvergne area of France into a middle-class family, Hubertine Auclert's father died when she was thirteen years old and her mother sent her to live and study in a Roman...

's La Citoyenne

La Citoyenne

La Citoyenne was a French feminist newspaper published in Paris from 1881 through 1891 by Hubertine Auclert. It was first published on February 13, 1881, and appeared bi-monthly. The newspaper was a forceful and unrelenting advocate for women's enfranchisement, demanding changes to the...

left off.

Durand's newspaper, run exclusively by women, advocated for women's rights, including admission to the Bar association

Bar association

A bar association is a professional body of lawyers. Some bar associations are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession in their jurisdiction; others are professional organizations dedicated to serving their members; in many cases, they are both...

 and the École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts

École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...

. As well, its editorials demanded women be allowed to be named to the Legion of Honor and to participate in parliamentary debates. This included, later in 1910, Durand's attempt to organize

Community organizing

Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...

 female candidates for the legislative elections. At the 1900 World's Fair

Exposition Universelle (1900)

The Exposition Universelle of 1900 was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from April 15 to November 12, 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next...

 in Paris, she organized the Congress For The Rights of Women. As well as establishing a summer residence for female journalists in Pierrefonds

Pierrefonds

Pierrefonds may refer to:* Pierrefonds, Oise commune in Oise, France** Château de Pierrefonds, castle in Pierrefonds, restored by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc* Pierrefonds-Roxboro, a borough of Montreal, Canada...

 in the Picardie

Picardie

Picardy is one of the 27 regions of France. It is located in the northern part of France.-History:The historical province of Picardy stretched from north of Noyon to Calais, via the whole of the Somme department and the north of the Aisne department...

 region, Durand turned to activism for working women, helping to organize several trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s.

Marguerite Durand, consumed by a passion for the equality of women, was also an attractive woman of style and elegance who was famous for walking the streets of Paris with her pet lion she named "Tiger." Instrumental in the establishing of the zoological Cimetière des Chiens

Cimetière des Chiens

The Cimetière des Chiens is often claimed to be the first zoological necropolis in the world...

 in the Parisian suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine

Asnières-sur-Seine

Asnières-sur-Seine is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, along the river Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:...

 where her lion was eventually interred, her activism raised the profile of feminism in France and Europe to an unprecedented level of respectability. Along the way, she compiled an enormous collection of papers that she gifted to the government in 1931. The following year, the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand

Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand

The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand is a specialized public library run by the municipal library system of the French city of Paris. Created from a massive collection started in 1897 by journalist and activist Marguerite Durand, the Library opened in 1931 at 79 rue Nationale in Paris. It holds a...

 opened in Paris and remains to this day one of the best sources in the world for research into feminism and women's history.

Details of Marguerite Durand can be found in the English language in American Professor Mary Louise Roberts' 2002 book, Disruptive Acts: The New Woman in Fin-de-Siècle France. In the French language there is Marguerite Durand (1864-1936) "La Fronde" féministe ou "Le Temps" by Jean Rabaut published in 1996.